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Abstract

The QLogic Ethernet and 8 Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) for IBM BladeCenter is installed in the blade server and allows connectivity to high-speed switch bays. This expansion card provides flexibility for connecting the blade server to the horizontally oriented BladeCenter H modules in bays 7 and 8 or bays 9 and 10 when using the Multi-Switch Interconnect Module (MSIM).

Changes made in the last update:* Added new part number* Added protocol support* Added HS23 and HS23E support* Added QLogic and Cisco switches support* Added Windows Server 2012 and VMware 5.1 support

Contents

The QLogic Ethernet and 8 Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) for IBM BladeCenter is installed in the blade server and allows connectivity to high-speed switch bays. This expansion card provides flexibility for connecting the blade server to the horizontally oriented BladeCenter H modules in bays 7 and 8 or bays 9 and 10 when using the Multi-Switch Interconnect Module (MSIM).

Installing the QLogic Ethernet and 8 Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) card in every blade server in your chassis adds two 1 Gb Ethernet ports and two 8 Gb Fibre Channel ports to each server. Combined with the two onboard Ethernet ports, this gives you an aggregate total of 4 Gbps of Ethernet bandwidth and 16 Gb of Fibre Channel bandwidth for every server in the chassis. This has the potential of meeting even the most bandwidth-intensive application needs such as virtualization.

When using the CFFh adapter, you can simultaneously use a CFFv or CIOv adapter to enable additional I/O support to blade servers such as the HS22 when installed in the IBM BladeCenter H chassis. The innovative design of the CFFh adapter is designed to work with the CFFv or CIOv adapter to support this combination workload.

The adapter connects to the midplane directly, without having to use cables or small form-factor pluggable (SFP) modules. By eliminating these components for up to 14 servers, the resulting savings alone covers the BladeCenter chassis investment.

Part number information

Table 1 shows the part number to order this card.

Table 1. Part number and feature code for ordering

Description

Part number

Feature code
(x-config / e-config)

QLogic Eth and 8Gb Fibre Channel Exp Card (CFFh) for IBM BladeCenter

44X1940

5485 / 8271

QLogic Enet and 8Gb FC Exp Card (CFFh) for IBM BladeCenter

00Y3270*

A3JC / None

* The existing adapter, part number 44X1940, has been reintroduced with the new part number, 00Y3270.

The BladeCenter H supports two MSIMs. The top MSIM is installed in the space occupied by I/O bays 7 and 8. The bottom MSIM is installed in the space occupied by bays 9 and 10. Figure 4 shows the MSIM being installed into bays 7 and 8 of the BladeCenter H chassis.

Figure 4. MSIM installed in bays 7 and 8 of the BladeCenter H chassis

To use both Ethernet ports and both Fibre Channel ports of the expansion card, you must install the following items:

Two MSIMs in the BladeCenter H chassis

One Ethernet switch module and one Fibre Channel switch module in each MSIM

Each switch module routes one port of the expansion card:

CFFh port 1: upper-left MSIM bay 7 (Ethernet)

CFFh port 2: upper-right MSIM bay 8 (Fibre Channel)

CFFh port 3: lower-left MSIM bay 9 (Ethernet)

CFFh port 4: lower-right MSIM bay 10 (Fibre Channel)

Popular configurations

The QLogic Ethernet and 8 Gb FC Expansion Card is ideal for adding additional Ethernet and Fibre Channel ports to a BladeCenter H configuration. In this configuration, each HS22 blade server has the QLogic expansion card installed along with an Ethernet Expansion Card (CIOv) and the onboard Ethernet controller. This means that six Ethernet connections and two Fibre Channel connections are delivered to each server (Figure 5). All connections between the cards and the switch modules are internal to the chassis. No cabling is needed.

Figure 5. Using the QLogic Ethernet and 8 Gb FC Expansion Card to supply six Ethernet connections and two Fibre Channel connections to each server

Special Notices

This material has not been submitted to any formal IBM test and is published AS IS. It has not been the subject of rigorous review. IBM assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness. The use of this information or the implementation of any of these techniques is a client responsibility and depends upon the client's ability to evaluate and integrate them into the client's operational environment.